Psalm 141: Returning Good for Bad
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Psalm 141 repeats David’s request for direction and security but with poetic imagery. “The psalmist begins with an appeal for acceptance by the Lord (vs. 1, 2), begs that his speech may be kept pure (vs. 3, 4), expresses his desire to be censured by the righteous rather than to receive deceitful flattery from the ungodly (vs. 5, 6), and closes with a request that he may be rescued from the cruel schemes of his enemies (vs. 7–10).” Invoking the imagery of priests lifting their hands and offering prayers with rising incense at the evening sacrifice (vv. 1, 2), David likewise wants his prayers to be acceptable to God.
The incense of the earthly tabernacle represented “the merits and intercession of Christ, His perfect righteousness, which through faith is imputed to His people, and which can alone make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to God.” David “prayed earnestly that the Lord would keep him from the practices of evil men. We must not infer from the language of this verse that God ever inclines a man’s heart to evil. . . . The psalmist was simply using the nontechnical language of Bible writers, by which God is presented as doing that which He does not prevent. The familiar expression in the Lord’s prayer, ‘lead us not into temptation’ (Matt. 6:13), should be understood in the same light.” David asks God to help him accept rebuke from persons who are righteous and have his best interests at heart (vv. 5, 6).
David had accepted Abigail’s rebuke, knowing it was true and sincere (1 Samuel 25:29–31). To accept reproof, even from a friend, is often difficult.
Closing the psalm, David returns to his oft-voiced request for protection from the snares of his enemies (Psalm 141:7–10).
He trusts the Lord to lead and deliver him and cause his enemies to be caught up in their own traps. “He leadeth me! O blessed thought! / O words with heavenly comfort fraught! / Whate’er I do, where’er I be, / Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.”
